Electric-conductor molding.



No. 737,997. PATENTED SEPT. l, 1903.

S. M. BURK.

ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR MOLDING.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 25, 1903.

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UNITED STATES SIDNEY M. BURK, OF PHILADELPHIA,

Patented September 1, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- ELECTRIC-CONDUCTOR MOLDING.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 737,997, dated September 1, 1903.

Application filed April 25, 1908.

50 (all whom it 712/661] concern:

Be it known that I, SIDNEY M. BURK, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Conductor Moldings, of which the following is a specification.

In equipping the interiors of various struc- Io tures with electrically operated appliances, resort is frequently had to the use of what are known as electric conductor moldings, to receive, support, and protect the conductors employed inconnection with said appliances.

Such moldings are usually made of body strips of wood, adapted to be secured to the wall or frame of the structure, in which they are located, and provided as to their outermost faceswith a longitudinally extending groove or grooves to receive the conductor or conductors, a cover plate being, after the insertion of the conductors, secured to the body strip to retain the conductors in position and protect them.

In practice it has been found that after the application of the body strips to the wall or frame of a building, and more especially when they have been applied to the ceiling of an apartment, in which position of coursethe open grooves face downwardly, it has been a matter of some difficulty to retain the conductors within the grooves or channels until the application of the cover strips.

The body strips and cover plate strips, as it is well known, are manufactured in sections of many feet in length, and under the circumstances referred to, the workman beneath inserts the conductors in the grooves in one end portion of a body strip and passes along the strip, inserting the conductors as he moves until he reaches the distant end of the strip, whereupon a cover strip is applied. The tendency is for the conductors inserted in the grooves at the first end of the strip to drop out before the workman completes the insertion of the conductors throughout the length of the strip and before the cover strip can be applied.

It is the object of my invention to provide an electric conductor molding having a groove of such character as to be adapted to Serial No. 154,231. (No model.)

retain an inserted conductor within it until the application of the cover strip.

In practicing my invention, resort may be had to grooves of various cross sectional design, and while I herein illustrate several such forms, it is to be understood that other forms not herein illustrated may be resorted to without departure from my invention.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figures 1, 2, and 3 are views in transverse section of electric conductor moldings embodying my invention, in which the diameter of the conductor with its insulating covering is greater than the distance between the edges of the grooves.

Figures 4: and 5 are views in transverse section and front elevation, respectively, of an electric conductor molding embodying my invention in which the diameter of the conductor includingits insulating material is less than the distance between the edges of the groove.

The molding of Figure 1 is shown as provided with the usual cover plate, but the moldings shown in Figures 2 to 5 inclusive, are shown without cover plates. Cover plates of any desired or usual form may, of course, be applied to the construction of the body strips shown in the latter figures.

My invention comprehends a molding strip having a groove which, instead of being formed as heretofore, with its opposing sides in parallel planes, perpendicular tothe plane of the face of the strip, is so conformed that a lip of the groove extends beneath either all or a portion only of a contained conductor. Preferably, I form the grooves as symmetrical, that is to say, with their opposite sides arranged as counterparts, as shown in the 0 figures of the drawings, although of course, this is not essential.

In the drawings,

Ct are the body strips; (1 are the grooves or channels; and cthe conductors. (I (Figure 1) 5 is a cover strip; e are the lips of the groove.

In the construction shown in Figure 1, the grooves 11 are as to their basalportions of rounded section and of breadth in excess of the distance between their lips e.

In the arrangement shown in Figure 2, the grooves 71 have fiat bases and plane sides converging from the respective sides of the bases to the lips 6, being thus of approximately triangular section. The breadth of the base is in excess of the distance between the lips c of the said grooves.

In the arrrangement shown in Figure 3, the grooves b are of polygonal section, and, at a point intermediate of their depth, of greater breadth than the distance between their lips e.

The conductors and insulating coverings 0, shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings, are of diameter slightly in excess of the distance between the lips of the grooves into which said conductors are to be inserted, or so snugly fitted between said lips that slight pressure is required to pass them between said lips, with the result that in laying said conductors within said grooves, the conductors make tight contact with the lips as they pass between them, and upon reaching the interior of the grooves, are retained by said lips.

The construction of the grooves shown in Figures 4 and 5 is identical with that shown in Figure 2, but it will be observed that the conductors c with their insulating coverings shown in said Figures 4 and 5, are of less diameter than the distance between the lips e of the grooves.

Notwithstanding this fact, however, the conductors are, in practice, maintained within the grooves by reason of various bends, curves and kinks which are always present ina conductor wire afterit has been unwound from a reel. These curves or bends, by

means of which such a conductor is retained withinthe groove, are clearly indicated in Figure 5.

As illustrated, the said curves or bends are regular, but it will be understood that in practice they are more likely to be irregular in form, arrangement, and position.

The hold of the lips upon the conductors, while not necessarily very firn1,is nevertheless sufficient to retain the conductor in position under ordinary circumstances against the force of gravity until the cover strip can be applied.

I prefer to form my improved molding-strip of wood. It is obvious, however, that any other suitable material may be employed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim In combination, an electric conductor having an insulating covering and a device for supporting the same upon the wall or ceiling, said device consisting of a strip of wood having a longitudinally extending channel, the mouth of which opens upon the face of said strip and is of less breadth than a selected part of the body of the channel, the mouth of the channel being of a breadth greater than the diameter of the conductor, and its covering, and through which mouth the conductor may be progressively passed in its insertion into and its removal from the said channel, the said conductor being retained within the channel by reason of curves or bends in the conductor, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention Ihave hereunto signed my name this 24th day of April, A. D. 1903.

SIDNEY M. BURK.

Witnesses:

THos. K. LANCASTER, LAURA KLEINFELDER. 

